Wet and Wild Delayed (HOL 101)

House of Laughter 101
(I started writing this in early September. I wouldn’t let myself delete it until I finished it.)
School is in and we are back on a “schedule”. I always feel mildly depressed when school starts even though it doesn’t change my work schedule at all. The big difference is that I don’t see Nancy in the morning and I have to drop Isaac off at daycare. Unlike Nancy, I’m not obsessing over my reaction to him going to kindergarten next year. Unlike some of the other children at his daycare, Isaac doesn’t cry when I drop him off.
On the way to school Isaac and I listen to music, tell stories about times we visited parks and restaurants that we pass, wonder when the new Haloween store will open, count how many sleeps until Gammy and G-Daddy come visit (three), check out the progress of the new tunnel being dug under Cone blvd, and decide what we are going to do that afternoon when I get home from work. Then I drop him off.
And I go back to a quiet truck.
And I think about how for the next eight hours I will have to pretend to be interested in cell phone plans, and gyms, and how bad people’s retirement accounts look now, and how the world is going to end because of health care reform.
And I think about Isaac yelling “Daddy!” and running to hug me and calling me to play Alligator. I consider myself fortunate to realize now how every one of these moments is a treasure.
I know there are people who don’t see the appeal in having a child. It’s like an enthusiast trying to explain a love for golf, or opera, or heroin.
Isaac and I had one last “Hurrah” for summer last weekend when we visited the local Wet and Wild. Nancy hates water parks. One of the main reasons we have a child is that I can once again go to water parks without looking like the local perv.
Water parks aren’t just about E-coli poisoning and overpriced hot dogs. There are a lot of important life lessons to be learned.
1) Stop and enjoy. We weren’t in any hurry to see everything. We rode the Lazy river three laps in a row. We also stopped and watched the riders make the crash landing at the base of the nearly vertical slide for a good deal of time.
2) Don’t obsess. When we found a slide Isaac liked, he would ride again and again, and not want to do anything else. I assured him we could come back after we explored and tried some other rides (which it turned out he liked just as well.)
3) Be brave. Isaac was a little scared to try some of the big slides, but I told him, “You only have to try it once. If you don’t like it, we won’t do it again.” The biggest slide was our favorite for the day. We ride it twice. For the smaller slides, I would help him get on the slide the first time, and gradually give him more and more freedom. With a few tries, the thing he was terrified of became a source of pride and independence.
5) How to wait in line. Instead of whining about how his feet hurt, or how long it was taking, or wanting a drink, he and I talked about what slide we would do next, look for airplanes, tell knock knock jokes, and amused each other. The lines went pretty quickly.
6) Daddy will keep you safe, but be prepared just in case. Isaac wore a life jacket on most of the slides. I assured him that I would hold on to him as we rode, but if I fell off the back of the tube, he was still going to be okay. He understood that if he fell in the water he would pop right back up and he should swim to the side.
We had a fine day, and I look forward to taking him again next year.
One last story from early September…….
Nancy brought Isaac home from school and gave him a light snack. When he was done, he told Nancy that he wanted a cereal bar. She told him, “No” dinner was going to be soon. Nancy had some work to do at her computer, and Isaac played quietly for a while….then took a cereal bar out of the cupboard and put it on the table in front of him. He didn’t unwrap it, he just played with it. Nancy asked what he was doing, and he said he was “going to eat it after dinner.” This lasted right up until he heard the my truck pull up in front of the house at which point his eyes got big, he ran to cupboard, put the cereal bar away, slammed the door and ran upstairs to play.
Turns out I’m not just the “Fun” parent.

Strength and Honor.
Big Matt